Do you need a permit?
No permit required for most private trees
Plano does not require a permit to remove a tree on your own private property, and the reason is unusually clear: the city had such a section and deliberately repealed it. Section 15-118 of the Plano Code governed the planting, preserving and removing of plants on private property, and the City Council repealed it in September 2021. What is left grants the Parks and Recreation director authority over trees on public highways and public places only. The one thing to watch is the parkway, the strip between the curb and the sidewalk, which is city property.
What's protected in Plano
- Trees, shrubs and plants on any public street, park or other municipal property, which the Parks and Recreation director controls
- Trees in the parkway area, defined as the area between the street right-of-way line and the curb line, or if there is no curb, the paved portion of the street or alley — generally the strip between the edge of the road and the far edge of the sidewalk
Fees, penalties, and the ordinance
- Penalties
- A violation of Chapter 15, Article VI is a misdemeanor offense subject to a fine under subsection 1-4(b) of the City Code for each offense. Every day a violation continues is a separate offense.
- Ordinance
- City of Plano Code of Ordinances Chapter 15, Article VI — Planting, Maintaining Trees, Shrubs on Public Property (Ord. No. 89-11-15, adopted November 13, 1989, amended by Ord. No. 2002-4-14, Ord. No. 2009-4-22, Ord. No. 2013-8-6 and Ord. No. 2021-9-21). Former Section 15-118, covering private property, was repealed by Ord. No. 2021-9-21, adopted September 27, 2021. Code current through Ordinance No. 2025-10-2, adopted October 13, 2025.
Worth knowing
- The repeal is the evidence. The editor's note at Section 15-118 reads: "Ord. No. 2021-9-21, § I, adopted September 27, 2021, repealed § 15-118, which pertained to planting, preserving, and removing plants on private property, and derived from Ord. No. 89-11-15, adopted November 13, 1989; and Ord. No. 2009-4-22, adopted April 27, 2009." Plano had the power, used it for 32 years, and then gave it up.
- Plano also repealed its public-tree permit. Section 15-121, which required a permit to plant or prune trees and shrubs on public property, was repealed in its entirety by Ord. No. 2002-4-14 in April 2002. Written approval from the director is still required under Section 15-117(b).
- Section 15-117(b) makes it unlawful to plant or remove any tree, shrub or plant on any public street, parkway area, park or other municipal property without the director's written approval, then adds: "This prohibition shall not apply to trees, shrubs or other landscaping planted in the parkway area adjacent to residential streets." Ask the city how it applies that sentence to your parkway before you cut.
- Even though the parkway is city property, Section 15-117(c) makes it unlawful for the adjacent owner to fail to prune, trim and maintain the trees and landscaping there. The city may prune, trim or remove parkway vegetation without liability, and its costs remain the adjacent owner's responsibility.
- Nothing here reaches private covenants. Plano has many HOA and deed-restricted neighborhoods that impose their own tree rules, and those are enforced privately, not by the city.
What we could not confirm
We would rather tell you what we don't know than guess. Call the office below to confirm these before you cut.
- — Whether the City of Plano Zoning Ordinance imposes tree preservation requirements on development projects such as new subdivisions, replats or site plans. Plano's zoning ordinance is not published in Municode — Appendix A of the Code of Ordinances is marked "(RESERVED)" with an editor's note that it "is reserved for future inclusion of the zoning ordinance" — and plano.gov's Zoning Ordinance page links only back to that same Municode code. We could not read the operative zoning text, so we make no claim about development-triggered tree rules either way. This does not affect a homeowner removing a tree with no construction involved.
- — A direct phone number for the Urban Forestry desk. Plano's Urban Forestry and FAQ pages render their content through JavaScript widgets that do not expose a phone number to automated readers.